Tobacco ad explained
Okay, so I do a fair bit of my work at night after the kids go to bed, plunked down on my sofa with the television box blathering in the background. That means I half hear a lot of commercials, promos and snipits that don't quite penetrate my thick noggin.
One of those half-heard snipits came up a couple nights ago, and seemed to have something to do with tobacco regulation. I missed the punch line and couldn't figure it out until this story showed up in my e-mail box courtesy of a Google alert:
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would give the Food and Drug Administration sweeping regulatory authority over the tobacco industry, clearing the way for a House floor vote on the legislation, which has long been sought by anti-tobacco activists.
The reason it pinged my Google alert comes further down in the story:
Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, has reportedly threatened to filibuster against the legislation. In a statement Wednesday, shortly after the committee vote, Mr. Burr said he remained opposed to the legislation. A spokesman for Mr. McConnell said that the senator has said he would review the legislation.
Here's the ad in question:
Note that it is paid for by Reynolds American and would send people to this site.
The pro-regulation argument is here.